Car Parking Gritting and Use in Snow or Icy Conditions

This pages provides advice and information regarding the management and use of Wealden car parks in snow and icy conditions.

Wealden has a range of resources which it may deploy in its car parks in snow and icy conditions, dependant on the severity of the weather.

Signage and Closures

The Council may, from time to time, have to close some of its car parks for safety reasons or to enable salting, gritting, snow clearance, etc to take place. This will normally be at short notice. Where possible signs will be displayed informing the public of closure of all or part of the car park.

When signs are impractical, officers may redirect traffic to alternative locations and car parks, and may erect cones and high visibility tape to prevent access.

The Council will commit resources in line with the priority schedule and dependent upon resources available.

Depending upon the scale and severity of any weather event, it may well be that some lower priority areas on the schedule will not be cleared for some days, or longer. The Council's priority schedule predominantly takes account of areas for which it has direct responsibility. There are a number of rural car parks which have a loose surface, gravel for example, and it is not always possible to clear such surfaces.

Use of Car Parks

In all circumstances the public must use the Council owned and operated car parks in accordance with the notices and regulations in force.

The Council will take all reasonable precautions to make the car parks as safe as possible to use. However, all vehicles using the car park must be driven and parked with care, especially during severe and adverse weather conditions.

Drivers should be advised to: return to their vehicles at regular intervals to ensure that the vehicle remains safe;. remember that car parks are mixed use, with both pedestrians and vehicles; exercise even greater care in severe weather to ensure the safety of pedestrians.

Extra Care when Parking

All vehicles and contents are left at the owner's risk. As some of the Council's car parks are on sloping sites, vehicle drivers should be reminded that they should check that the car is not likely to slide (even when normally parked) due to black ice on the surface.

Car Parking Enforcement in Bad Weather

When all the car park surface markings are obscured by snow, enforcement will generally be relaxed.

However, blatant misuse of the car park will continue to be enforced, for example:

parking on footpaths, kerbed or raised areas,

obstruction of access areas,

vehicles abandoned for extended periods,

driving at excessive speed,

Such enforcement will be used to protect the public.

The Council's website will provide details of whether enforcement has been relaxed and which car parks are closed. Where possible, signs will be placed at prominent locations providing advice to the public.